Reyes v. Sessions , 886 F.3d 184 ( 2018 )

United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 17-1892
JULIO H. REYES,
Petitioner,
v.
JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS, III,
ATTORNEY GENERAL,
Respondent.
PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF
THE BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS
Before
Lynch, Stahl, and Kayatta,
Circuit Judges.
Jonathan Ng, with whom Robert Ley and Law Office of Johanna
Herrero were on brief, for petitioner.
Yedidya Cohen, Trial Attorney, Office of Immigration
Litigation, Civil Division, U.S. Department of Justice, with whom
Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, and Anthony C.
Payne, Assistant Director, Office of Immigration Litigation, were
on brief, for respondent.
March 29, 2018
LYNCH, Circuit Judge. Julio H. Reyes challenges the
Board of Immigration Appeals' ("BIA") denial of his motion to
reopen for being untimely and its decision not to reopen sua
sponte. The BIA found that Reyes had submitted his motion to
reopen long after the ninety-day limit and did not show that he
fit within an exception to that limit, and did not even attempt to
argue to the BIA that he did. The BIA did not abuse its discretion,
so we deny that portion of his petition. The BIA also determined
that sua sponte reopening was unwarranted. We dismiss Reyes's
challenge of that decision for lack of jurisdiction.
I.
Reyes, a native and citizen of El Salvador, entered the
United States in 1987 without being admitted or paroled after
inspection by an immigration officer. Between 1991 and 2011, Reyes
was arraigned on twenty-six different criminal charges. These
charges included: assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in
1991; disorderly conduct in 1992; assault and battery in 1993;
receiving stolen property in 1993; violation of a restraining order
and threatening to commit a crime in 1996, for an altercation
involving a woman he said was his girlfriend at the time; buying
or receiving a stolen motor vehicle in 1997; assault and battery
on a police officer and resisting arrest in 1998; operating a
vehicle under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of an
accident in 2001; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and
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threatening to commit a crime in 2003, for allegedly beating his
girlfriend; intimidation of a witness in 2003, for allegedly
preventing his girlfriend from testifying regarding the 2003
assault and battery charge; assault and battery in 2008, for
allegedly hitting a woman he was dating and who is the mother of
his children; possessing an open container of alcohol in a motor
vehicle in 2009; and assault and battery in 2011, again for
allegedly beating the mother of his children.
At least two of the charges against Reyes led to
convictions. In 1993, Reyes was convicted of assault and battery,
in violation of Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265 § 13A. In 1997, he pleaded
guilty to buying or receiving a stolen motor vehicle, in violation
of Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 266 § 28.
In 2007, the Department of Homeland Security initiated
removal proceedings against Reyes, charging that Reyes was present
in the United States without being admitted or inspected. Reyes
conceded that he was removable and applied for special rule
cancellation of removal under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and
Central American Relief Act of 1997 ("NACARA"), which provides the
Attorney General discretion to cancel removal if certain
conditions are met.1 8 C.F.R. § 1240.66(b). At a hearing before
1 To be eligible for this relief, a person must, inter
alia, be inadmissible or deportable, have been continuously
present in the United States for a certain period of time, be of
good moral character during his continuous presence in the United
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the Immigration Judge ("IJ"), Reyes testified that returning to El
Salvador would create a hardship because he had negative memories
from El Salvador's civil war, he would not be able to find
employment there, he financially supported his three United States
citizen children, and he provided care to his mother, who lives in
the United States.
The IJ, for multiple separate reasons, denied Reyes's
application and ordered him removed. First, the IJ determined
that Reyes's 1997 conviction for receiving a stolen vehicle was a
crime involving moral turpitude and, as a result, applied the
heightened standard that Reyes must show his removal would result
in "exceptional and extremely unusual" hardship. The IJ found
that Reyes did not satisfy that standard because the hardship Reyes
had identified was not "substantially different from, or beyond,
that which would normally be expected from the deportation of an
alien with close family members here." Second, the IJ determined
that Reyes had failed to show that he had been of good moral
character during his time in the United States. Third, and
States, and demonstrate a certain level of hardship. 8 C.F.R.
§ 1240.66. A person who has not committed a crime involving moral
turpitude must show that he has been continuously present in the
United States for seven years and that returning to his home
country would cause "extreme hardship." Id. § 1240.66(b). A
person who has committed such a crime must show he has been
continuously present in the United States for ten years following
that crime and that returning to his home country would result in
"exceptional and extremely unusual hardship." Id. § 1240.66(c).
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independently, the IJ denied Reyes's motion as a matter of
discretion because Reyes had been arraigned on twenty-six criminal
charges during his time in the United States. The IJ stated that
"[s]uch a criminal record is sufficient to . . . determine that
[Reyes] would not warrant a favorable exercise of discretion."
The BIA affirmed on October 9, 2012. It agreed with the
IJ that Reyes had failed to show that his removal would result in
exceptional and extremely unusual hardship. It separately
concluded that the IJ was correct to deny cancellation of removal
as a matter of discretion "[f]or the reasons thoroughly discussed
by the [IJ]." The BIA did not reach the good moral character
issue. Reyes did not move to reopen within the ninety-day period.
Despite the 2012 final order of removal, Reyes remained
in the United States. On February 23, 2017, Reyes filed a motion
to reopen and an accompanying emergency stay of removal. His
motion to reopen alleged that, on January 9, 2017, Reyes's 1993
conviction for assault and battery was vacated on the grounds that
his counsel at the time had failed to warn him of the immigration
consequences of pleading guilty and that he had not been provided
an interpreter. Based on that vacatur, Reyes argued that he could
now meet the requirements for special rule cancellation of removal
under NACARA. At no point did Reyes, who was represented by
counsel, attempt to justify the years-long delay between the final
order of removal and his effort to vacate his prior conviction.
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DHS responded on March 7, 2017, asserting that the
vacatur did not change any facet of the IJ's and BIA's analyses.
In its discussion of the NACARA hardship standard, DHS pointed out
that the application of the heightened standard under NACARA was
based on Reyes's 1997 conviction for buying or receiving a stolen
motor vehicle, not the assault and battery conviction that had
been vacated.
Reyes went back to the state court and argued that his
conviction for buying or receiving a stolen motor vehicle should
be vacated, again due to Reyes's allegation that his counsel had
not warned him of the immigration consequences of a guilty plea.
The state court vacated the conviction on July 27, 2017. Reyes
filed his response to DHS's opposition to his motion to reopen the
next day, notifying the BIA of the July 27, 2017 vacatur as part
of that filing.
The BIA denied Reyes's motion on August 11, 2017. First,
the BIA determined that Reyes's motion to reopen was untimely.
Motions to reopen must be filed within ninety days of a final order
of removal, and Reyes had waited more than four years. The BIA
found that Reyes "ha[d] not shown that the late filing of his
motion to reopen is excused under any exception" and denied the
motion as a result. Second, the BIA declined to reopen sua sponte
on the ground that Reyes had failed to show that the vacaturs of
the two criminal convictions would have led to a different outcome.
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The BIA explained that, even if the vacaturs might help Reyes on
the good moral character and hardship requirements, they would not
impact the IJ's and BIA's decisions to deny cancellation of removal
as a matter of discretion. The BIA explained that the IJ had found
that Reyes's history of arrests was sufficient to deny cancellation
of removal as a matter of discretion, and the BIA's 2012 decision
had adopted that reasoning. Because the two vacaturs did not
affect that independent ground for denying cancellation of
removal, sua sponte reopening was unwarranted. For the same
reason, the BIA determined that Reyes's motion to reopen would
have failed even if it had been timely.
II.
Reyes's petition for review argues that the BIA erred by
denying his motion to reopen. Where we have jurisdiction, we
review the BIA's denial of a motion to reopen for abuse of
discretion. Sánchez-Romero v. Sessions, 865 F.3d 43, 45 (1st Cir.
2017). A motion to reopen generally must be filed within ninety
days of a final order of removal. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(c)(7)(C)(i).
Here, the BIA entered a final order of removal on October 9, 2012,
and Reyes did not file his motion to reopen until February 23,
2017. His filings did not provide the BIA any reason why his
submission should be considered timely. Consequently, the BIA
held that Reyes had failed to justify the delay and dismissed his
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motion as untimely. That ruling can hardly be an abuse of
discretion.2
III.
Reyes also challenges the BIA's decision not to reopen
sua sponte. This circuit has long held that "sua sponte authority
is committed to the unbridled discretion of the BIA, and the courts
lack jurisdiction to review that judgment." Charuc v. Holder, 737
F.3d 113, 115 (1st Cir. 2013) (quoting Matos-Santana v. Holder,
660 F.3d 91, 94 (1st Cir. 2011)). Reyes argues that we have
jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(D) because his petition
raises constitutional issues and questions of law.
This court has not determined whether 8 U.S.C.
§ 1252(a)(2)(D) provides courts of appeals with jurisdiction to
review, under certain circumstances, the BIA's sua sponte decision
not to reopen. See Matias v. Sessions, 871 F.3d 65, 69 (1st Cir.
2017). We need not decide that issue here. Section 1252(a)(2)(D)
only arguably applies to a petitioner's constitutional or legal
challenges if they are colorable, see Ayeni v. Holder, 617 F.3d
2 Reyes argues before this court that his motion to reopen
should be considered timely because the two vacaturs amount to a
"changed and exceptional circumstance," and the motion to reopen
was filed within ninety days of the vacaturs. Reyes did not make
this argument before the BIA, so it is unexhausted and waived.
See Molina De Massenet v. Gonzales, 485 F.3d 661, 664 (1st Cir.
2007). Even if the argument were before us, we note that he does
not explain why he waited years to attempt to vacate his
convictions, including years after the immigration consequences
had been made clear by the BIA's final order of removal in 2012.
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67, 71 (1st Cir. 2010) (citing Elysee v. Gonzales, 437 F.3d 221,
223 (1st Cir. 2006)), and Reyes's are not.
Reyes argues that the BIA's decision not to reopen sua
sponte denied Reyes due process and so raises a constitutional
claim. That is plainly not so, for a number of reasons, and we
give only one. A due process claim can only succeed if Reyes has
a "cognizable liberty interest," Matias, 871 F.3d at 72 (quoting
Mejia-Orellana v. Gonzales, 502 F.3d 13, 17 (1st Cir. 2007)), and
he does not. The BIA's exercise of its "purely discretionary" sua
sponte authority "does not create a cognizable liberty interest."3
Id.
Reyes argues that he asserts a colorable question of law
because he alleges that the BIA "impermissibly departed from a
consistent pattern of administrative decisions rendered in similar
cases." The BIA's decision here was completely consistent with
its precedent. Reyes cites only cases in which the BIA chose to
exercise its discretion to reopen sua sponte where the underlying
charge of removal was based solely on a criminal conviction that
had been vacated. See, e.g., In Re: Urquilla-Morales, 2005 WL
3709278, at *1 (B.I.A. 2005). Here, as the BIA explained, the IJ
made an independent discretionary decision, which the BIA
3 Reyes argues that the application of the exceptional and
extremely unusual hardship standard amounted to a violation of his
right to due process. That argument is not colorable for the same
reason that his other due process argument is not colorable.
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affirmed, not to grant special rule cancellation of removal, and
that decision was based on Reyes's twenty-six criminal charges,
not his two convictions.
IV.
Reyes's petition for review is denied as to his challenge
to the BIA's determination that his motion to reopen was untimely
and dismissed for lack of jurisdiction as to his challenge to the
BIA’s decision to not exercise its sua sponte authority to reopen.
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